Reliance Industries appoints Hital Meswani as its new HR director

Meswani, a chemical engineer from University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and a Wharton alumnus, joined RIL in 1990.Devina Sengupta&Baiju Kalesh | ET Bureau | August 05, 2015, 07:34 IST

People close to the development said that Hital, younger brother of RIL executive director Nikhil Meswani, will run the HR department after the departure of Prabir Jha. An email notifying Meswani’s appointment was circulated on July 31, two days after Jha’s exit. The mail said the direct reportees to Jha would report to Meswani and they should strive to give RIL a ‘truly transparent and meritocratic culture’.

Meswani, a chemical engineer from University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and aWharton alumnus, joined RIL in 1990.

He was inducted into the board in 1995 just around the time the firm was beginning construction of the Jamnagar refinery.

Jha’s exit was unexpected and came after he made many changes to RIL’s work culture and appraisal processes. RIL’s choice of a family insider well known within the company than an outside professional could mean that they want to quickly move past the Jha episode.

“Meswani has been part of the HR transition and the team knows him, but this could be read as a sign of crisis containment,” said a person with direct knowledge of the development. He added that the move may mean HR is not such a top priority for the firm. “Meswani has many responsibilities and handling human resources on top of that shows that this is no longer the top priority.”

Some consultants cited the change to a doctor curing a problem than a chemist. “Chances of a qualified doctor curing your problem is far higher than a chemist,” another consultant said on condition that he will not be named in the story. “To build a brand, repeat performance is needed. Indian companies know they need to build a workplace where their employees feel that they are integral to company despite the fact that the seed capital may have been provided by the promoters.” RIL did not respond to a query sent by ET on the same.